Basically this sauce can go with almost any red meat. I personally served it with lamb. ( I tend not to have a lot of sauces with my Steaks, unless its an au poivre) But the recipe is so versatile theres no point in limiting it to one type of meat.
There are a lot of ingredients just in this sauce alone, so let me introduce you to this invention I've discovered called a food processor.
You see, in the old days, you know, when your parents ate food that didn't come in jars, people used knives to make food smaller.
Fuck that.
Step 1. Take all the veggies you need finely diced, etc, and throw em in a food processor, pulse a few times, remove.
Step 2. Have the wife/husband clean out the food processor bowl.
Step 3. Profit
Ok, ANYWAY...
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
Two cloves garlic, peeled.
1 shallot, peeled.
1 tbps chopped fresh thyme
Salt
Pepper
1 cup beef stock
2 tbsp brandy
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup merlot wine
2 tbsp Tomato paste (Yes I'm serious...)
Step 1: Remember the food processor? Throw the garlic, shallots, thyme leaves in that sucker and dice them on up.
Step 3: Cook your meat. Wether its steak or lamb, etc, cook it in THIS pan. Once done, lower the temperature of the burner, remove your meat from the pan and leave the drippings in the pan.
Step 4: Add 2 tbsp butter to your pan. Allow to melt completely. Add in everything that was in the food processor.
Step 5: Saute the herbs.
Step 6: Add the wine, 4 tbsp butter, beef stock, brandy, balsamic. Add a dash of salt, and a few turns of a pepper mill.
Step 7: Step back and let heat do its work. Simmer, stirring often and allow sauce to reduce by at least 1/2.
Step 8: Once the sauce has reduced to the desired point, add in the tomato paste. Please, do not skip this step. It sounds bizarre, but this really is the absolute kicker for making this sauce work.
Step 9: Taste the sauce, adding additional broth, or wine to taste. If the consistency is too watery, add butter or tomato paste to thicken.
Step 10: Serve with meat.
Enjoy ridiculous decadence!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Pork Chops with a Gruyere wine sauce
Ok, I confess, I originally wanted to make a recipe that recreated a sandwich which had been featured on an Anthony Bourdain show.
It was a fried, breaded pork chop, topped with bacon and proscuito, finished off with a fried egg and topped with Gruyere cheese. The secret ingredient as far as I was concerned was the Gruyere.
Fast forward a bit. I had purchased the gruyere with the implicit desire to make this dish, but I didn't feel like a sandwich. What to do?
I've been on a "sauce" kick for a while now, experimenting and testing out new sauces. (That merlot sauce I made for the lamb is still coming, I promise. Its just a lot of work)
I also have been treasuring simplicity. I have no problem cooking for 2-3 hours but sometimes you just wanna rip something out. This is what I came up with...
Pan seared pork chops with a Gruyere wine sauce. (Thats the title of this blog post, so that was kind of a spoiler.)
Anyways, onto the recipe.
Ingredients:
Pork Chops or Pork Tenderloin medallions.
Olive Oil
Finely diced onions
1/2 cup Finely chopped white mushroomos
Salt
Pepper
*1 cup Chicken Broth
Tarragon, chopped roughly.
*1/2 cup White Wine
1 oz of shredded or cubed Gruyere cheese.
6 tbsp butter.
*Make sure to have additional broth and wine on hand as you may need to add some once the cheese is in the dish.
Step 1: Heat about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a regular skillet over moderately high heat.
Step 2: Salt and pepper the outsides of your pork chops. (Pretend they're steaks, we're cookin' em that way anyway)
Step 3: Add the pork chops to the skillet. Sear the chop on one side, about 2-3 minutes (Depending on your skillet/oven) Once the pork has turned white on one side and shows flecks of browning, flip it. You do not want to overcook the pork. I refuse to overcook anything damnit, and searing them on the outside keeps the moisture inside. Remember those dried out shoe leather pork chops grandma used to make? This ain't LucidzGradmasRecipes.com, so go elsewhere if you hate taste and juicy pork.
Step 4: Once the pork has been seared on both sides, remove to a plate and tent with foil. Lower the heat of the oven, take the skillet off so that the juices and drippings won't evaporate. Wait a minute or two and put the skillet back on the burner. Add 2 tbsp butter and the onions and mushroom to the same skillet. allow the onions to become transluscent.
Step 5: Add 1 cup of broth, additional 2 tbsp of btuter and 1/2 cup of wine plus tarragon to the skillet. Bring to simmer. Allow sauce to reduce for about 5 minutes.
Step 6: Slowly add chunked/shredded gruyere cheese, stirring constantly and allowing it to melt. Depending on the brand/type of Gruyere and wether you shredded or cubed, you may have strings of cheese in the pan. This is normal.
Step 7: Once all cheese has been added, taste the sauce. It may need more broth, more wine or more butter. (Do not add cream.) Get the sauce to your desired flavor balance and texture. (If you can't figure out how to do this, tough, its time to experiment ain't it?)
Step 8: Add the pork back into the sauce and allow time to reheat the pork. 3-5 minutes should suffice.
Step 9: Serve and plate!
Enjoy!
Note: I serve this dish with Rosti Potatoes.
It was a fried, breaded pork chop, topped with bacon and proscuito, finished off with a fried egg and topped with Gruyere cheese. The secret ingredient as far as I was concerned was the Gruyere.
Fast forward a bit. I had purchased the gruyere with the implicit desire to make this dish, but I didn't feel like a sandwich. What to do?
I've been on a "sauce" kick for a while now, experimenting and testing out new sauces. (That merlot sauce I made for the lamb is still coming, I promise. Its just a lot of work)
I also have been treasuring simplicity. I have no problem cooking for 2-3 hours but sometimes you just wanna rip something out. This is what I came up with...
Pan seared pork chops with a Gruyere wine sauce. (Thats the title of this blog post, so that was kind of a spoiler.)
Anyways, onto the recipe.
Ingredients:
Pork Chops or Pork Tenderloin medallions.
Olive Oil
Finely diced onions
1/2 cup Finely chopped white mushroomos
Salt
Pepper
*1 cup Chicken Broth
Tarragon, chopped roughly.
*1/2 cup White Wine
1 oz of shredded or cubed Gruyere cheese.
6 tbsp butter.
*Make sure to have additional broth and wine on hand as you may need to add some once the cheese is in the dish.
Step 1: Heat about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a regular skillet over moderately high heat.
Step 2: Salt and pepper the outsides of your pork chops. (Pretend they're steaks, we're cookin' em that way anyway)
Step 3: Add the pork chops to the skillet. Sear the chop on one side, about 2-3 minutes (Depending on your skillet/oven) Once the pork has turned white on one side and shows flecks of browning, flip it. You do not want to overcook the pork. I refuse to overcook anything damnit, and searing them on the outside keeps the moisture inside. Remember those dried out shoe leather pork chops grandma used to make? This ain't LucidzGradmasRecipes.com, so go elsewhere if you hate taste and juicy pork.
Step 4: Once the pork has been seared on both sides, remove to a plate and tent with foil. Lower the heat of the oven, take the skillet off so that the juices and drippings won't evaporate. Wait a minute or two and put the skillet back on the burner. Add 2 tbsp butter and the onions and mushroom to the same skillet. allow the onions to become transluscent.
Step 5: Add 1 cup of broth, additional 2 tbsp of btuter and 1/2 cup of wine plus tarragon to the skillet. Bring to simmer. Allow sauce to reduce for about 5 minutes.
Step 6: Slowly add chunked/shredded gruyere cheese, stirring constantly and allowing it to melt. Depending on the brand/type of Gruyere and wether you shredded or cubed, you may have strings of cheese in the pan. This is normal.
Step 7: Once all cheese has been added, taste the sauce. It may need more broth, more wine or more butter. (Do not add cream.) Get the sauce to your desired flavor balance and texture. (If you can't figure out how to do this, tough, its time to experiment ain't it?)
Step 8: Add the pork back into the sauce and allow time to reheat the pork. 3-5 minutes should suffice.
Step 9: Serve and plate!
Enjoy!
Note: I serve this dish with Rosti Potatoes.
Rosti Potatoes - A great addition to a saucy dish.
As usual, heres my pre-recipe declaration. Wanna skip my rambling? Just look at the recipe by itself.
So you've got two questions for me right now.
1. Where the hell have you been.
2. What the hell is a rosti potato?
Answer 1: Mind your own freaking business, I have a job you know.
Answer 2: Fluffy, fried, swiss style potato cakes. Think "hash browns with character."
Rosti potatoes are fantastic for pairing with saucy dishes as they tend to soak up the juices. Also, the shredded internal texture of the potato combined with the char of the fried outside make it a great side. Not to mention that theres no butter, cream or otherwise in this potato recipe so its a lot more healthy than say, my shallot riced potatoes. (But those are damn good too)
There are a lot of ways to make rosti potatoes. It seems like every douchebag on blogspot has a recipe.
So, since I am both On blogspot, and a douche, it only makes sense that I would throw my own hat into the crowded ring.
This recipe is really pretty straight forward, so lets get right to it.
Ingredients:
2 yukon gold potatoes.
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp butter (for the onions, I said no butter in the potatoes fatty!)
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
Step 1: Leaving the skins on, slice the potatoes lengthwise into quarters.
Step 2: Parboil the potatoes in salted water. You'll just have to use a toothpick to figure this out. You want the potatoes heated through but not anywhere close to the "falling apart" level we normally cook potatoes.
Step 3: Drain the potatoes and place in refridgerator. Allow them to cool to at least warmish. Room temperature or lower is ideal.
Step 4: While the potatoes are cooling, saute the onions in a tbsp of butter.
Once done, remove from heat and save.
Step 5: Remove the potatoes from refridgerator and skin them. I prefer the Yukon potatoes because, quite honestly, peeling parboiled creamer potatoes is a bitch.
Step 6: Using a box grater, coarsely grate the potatoes into a large bowl. Add the onions to the mixture and by hand mix the potatoes up. (Do not use a spoon or other utensil or else it will "Mash" the potatoes and consistency will be gone.
Step 7: One by one, add the fluffy piles onto a medium level preheated griddle or skillet. Wait a minute for them to brown on the bottom. Lower the temperature. There should be no sizzling or popping. We mean to slow cook these. We just want that nice browning on the bottom.
Step 8: Leave them alone. Do not touch them. Yes, some of them may start to fall apart. Sucks for you. LEAVE THEM ALONE. After about 10 minutes, crank the heat up again, so that they will brown on the other side as well.
Step 9: Flip the piles, repeating step 7.
Step 10: Cook an additional 13-15 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve.
(Or you can just throw em in the fridge like this and reheat them a few hours later.)
Enjoy!
So you've got two questions for me right now.
1. Where the hell have you been.
2. What the hell is a rosti potato?
Answer 1: Mind your own freaking business, I have a job you know.
Answer 2: Fluffy, fried, swiss style potato cakes. Think "hash browns with character."
Rosti potatoes are fantastic for pairing with saucy dishes as they tend to soak up the juices. Also, the shredded internal texture of the potato combined with the char of the fried outside make it a great side. Not to mention that theres no butter, cream or otherwise in this potato recipe so its a lot more healthy than say, my shallot riced potatoes. (But those are damn good too)
There are a lot of ways to make rosti potatoes. It seems like every douchebag on blogspot has a recipe.
So, since I am both On blogspot, and a douche, it only makes sense that I would throw my own hat into the crowded ring.
This recipe is really pretty straight forward, so lets get right to it.
Ingredients:
2 yukon gold potatoes.
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp butter (for the onions, I said no butter in the potatoes fatty!)
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
Step 1: Leaving the skins on, slice the potatoes lengthwise into quarters.
Step 2: Parboil the potatoes in salted water. You'll just have to use a toothpick to figure this out. You want the potatoes heated through but not anywhere close to the "falling apart" level we normally cook potatoes.
Step 3: Drain the potatoes and place in refridgerator. Allow them to cool to at least warmish. Room temperature or lower is ideal.
Step 4: While the potatoes are cooling, saute the onions in a tbsp of butter.
Once done, remove from heat and save.
Step 5: Remove the potatoes from refridgerator and skin them. I prefer the Yukon potatoes because, quite honestly, peeling parboiled creamer potatoes is a bitch.
Step 6: Using a box grater, coarsely grate the potatoes into a large bowl. Add the onions to the mixture and by hand mix the potatoes up. (Do not use a spoon or other utensil or else it will "Mash" the potatoes and consistency will be gone.
Step 7: One by one, add the fluffy piles onto a medium level preheated griddle or skillet. Wait a minute for them to brown on the bottom. Lower the temperature. There should be no sizzling or popping. We mean to slow cook these. We just want that nice browning on the bottom.
Step 8: Leave them alone. Do not touch them. Yes, some of them may start to fall apart. Sucks for you. LEAVE THEM ALONE. After about 10 minutes, crank the heat up again, so that they will brown on the other side as well.
Step 9: Flip the piles, repeating step 7.
Step 10: Cook an additional 13-15 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve.
(Or you can just throw em in the fridge like this and reheat them a few hours later.)
Enjoy!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Speaking of Mac N Cheese...
I figured, based on my earlier post, I should talk about Macaroni and Cheese.
Thats that stuff that comes with dried out elbow pasta, and dehydrated yellow powdered shit right?
Wrong.
A few weeks back I was eating in a high end restaurant having an 8 course chef's tasting. Fois Gras, Braised Pork Shank, Cioppino, local caught snapper and ... Macaroni and Cheese?
Are you serious? Fucking Mac n Cheese? In a restaurant that gladly consumes $400 dollars and three hours of my life?
I requested it specifically because, I mean come on. What the hell. However, as so often happens, I was aghast at the result.
This was no ordinary mac and cheese. No, this was truffled mac and cheese, with something crusty on top.
Now, I love recreating dishes. Who doesn't. I hadn't made mac n cheese in years so we set about seeing what we could come up.
Here's what we got. I say we, why? Because I owe this dish to the wife. We both put in our two cents to come up with it, but she is the workhorse of this side and always makes it. Therefore she gets credit.
Ok, anyway..
Ingredients:
Some form of bite size pasta. We regularly use rotini.
(FYI: Mac n cheese doesn't have to be elbow pasta)
1/2 lb Velveeta. (Yes, I know gourmet, shit right?) – cut into 1/2" chunks
2/3 cup Milk
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
Salt and Pepper
Some shredded parmesan
Finally, Either a half of a cup of soft white cheese, like Mozarella or a Cheddar. (This is a fun experiment. Try using different exotic whites for the other half of the flavor)
This recipe is very easy to make, and once you've done it, you'll forget all about those dried out pork chops and kraft mac n cheese mom used to make. (She always hated cooking for you, you little shit)
Step 1. Precook the pasta. You don't want it all the way cooked. (Al dente for you linguists) Its going to continue cooking in the cheesey goodness.
Step 2. Put about an inch of water in a double broiler. Bring to a simmer but never a boil. Mix milk, velveeta, your cheese of choice, mustard powder, turmeric and whisk until the consistency is nice and smooth.
Step 3. Add salt and pepper until the taste and consistency is what you want. Add 1 tsp of truffle oil. Whisk thoroughly. Taste. Truffle oil is some seriously powerful shit, so even though a teaspoon seems like a small amount, just trust me. If you don't have enough flavor add another tsp. I would never add more than 2 tsp to a vat of mac n cheese because not everyone might like that taste.
Step 4. Mix pasta into cheese. Allow to sit for a minute as the pasta warms.
Step 5. (Optional) Place in casserole dish and top with shredded parmesan cheese. Broil until cheese turns brown, or feel free to bake it if you're a sissy. (I'd broil it.)
Enjoy!
Note: I cannot find a picture of this. I will update the blog with an image of it as soon as I can.
add milk, cheese, mustard powder, turmeric, salt and pepper in that order. Stir with whisk until melted and smooth.
Thats that stuff that comes with dried out elbow pasta, and dehydrated yellow powdered shit right?
Wrong.
A few weeks back I was eating in a high end restaurant having an 8 course chef's tasting. Fois Gras, Braised Pork Shank, Cioppino, local caught snapper and ... Macaroni and Cheese?
Are you serious? Fucking Mac n Cheese? In a restaurant that gladly consumes $400 dollars and three hours of my life?
I requested it specifically because, I mean come on. What the hell. However, as so often happens, I was aghast at the result.
This was no ordinary mac and cheese. No, this was truffled mac and cheese, with something crusty on top.
Now, I love recreating dishes. Who doesn't. I hadn't made mac n cheese in years so we set about seeing what we could come up.
Here's what we got. I say we, why? Because I owe this dish to the wife. We both put in our two cents to come up with it, but she is the workhorse of this side and always makes it. Therefore she gets credit.
Ok, anyway..
Ingredients:
Some form of bite size pasta. We regularly use rotini.
(FYI: Mac n cheese doesn't have to be elbow pasta)
1/2 lb Velveeta. (Yes, I know gourmet, shit right?) – cut into 1/2" chunks
2/3 cup Milk
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
Salt and Pepper
Some shredded parmesan
Finally, Either a half of a cup of soft white cheese, like Mozarella or a Cheddar. (This is a fun experiment. Try using different exotic whites for the other half of the flavor)
This recipe is very easy to make, and once you've done it, you'll forget all about those dried out pork chops and kraft mac n cheese mom used to make. (She always hated cooking for you, you little shit)
Step 1. Precook the pasta. You don't want it all the way cooked. (Al dente for you linguists) Its going to continue cooking in the cheesey goodness.
Step 2. Put about an inch of water in a double broiler. Bring to a simmer but never a boil. Mix milk, velveeta, your cheese of choice, mustard powder, turmeric and whisk until the consistency is nice and smooth.
Step 3. Add salt and pepper until the taste and consistency is what you want. Add 1 tsp of truffle oil. Whisk thoroughly. Taste. Truffle oil is some seriously powerful shit, so even though a teaspoon seems like a small amount, just trust me. If you don't have enough flavor add another tsp. I would never add more than 2 tsp to a vat of mac n cheese because not everyone might like that taste.
Step 4. Mix pasta into cheese. Allow to sit for a minute as the pasta warms.
Step 5. (Optional) Place in casserole dish and top with shredded parmesan cheese. Broil until cheese turns brown, or feel free to bake it if you're a sissy. (I'd broil it.)
Enjoy!
Note: I cannot find a picture of this. I will update the blog with an image of it as soon as I can.
add milk, cheese, mustard powder, turmeric, salt and pepper in that order. Stir with whisk until melted and smooth.
New recipes forthcoming tonight... In the meantime...
So yeah, tonight I'll get around to my lamb chops and merlot wine sauce recipe. I'll probably do a whole section on vinaigrettes too. We'll see.
But I just wanted to say that last night, the wife made sloppy joes and mac n' cheese.
AND IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!
Take that food snobs!
(FYI, she's as much as a faux chef as me, she made Steak Au Poivre Sunday.)
But I just wanted to say that last night, the wife made sloppy joes and mac n' cheese.
AND IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!
Take that food snobs!
(FYI, she's as much as a faux chef as me, she made Steak Au Poivre Sunday.)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
A note about utensils.
So, in my brief but star-making turn as a brand new blogger I've thrown several recipes against the virtual wall to see what stuck.
However, I would like to make note of a few utensils I feel are absoutely of paramount importance in the kitchen.
I would also like to note that at this time, I am under no duress of sponsorship, so the opinions included herein are honest.
*Whew*
Here are what I would consider the top most important utensils of a kitchen.
There are 8. 8 shall be the number, and the number is 8. 7 shall not be hinted at, lest ye be counting to the number 8 and the number 9 is right out. (If you get this joke, I pity you)
8. Sauce pan
Innocuous enough, but at only a diameter of about 4 inches and 4 inches deep it doesn't seem like it could make much difference right? Wrong. Cooking sauces, creams, etc in this pan will make your life so much easier. Turn it on low, taste every so often, don't worry about the expanded area of an actual pan overheating the mixture and burning or over reducing.
7. Small Wooden bowls
This sounds esoteric doesn't it? But seriously. How many sauces start out with butter, garlic and shallots. That three way orgasm is the key to heaven in an untold number of sauces. Being able to prep this before hand is unbelievably helpful. The more small wooden bowls ( 1.5 inch diameter to 3/4 inch depth ) you have, the better.
6. Potato Ricer
Its cheap. It makes potatoes better. You have no excuse. Why wait. Buy one.
5. Bamboo Cutting board
You know the old Cut chicken on one side, cut beef on the other adage regarding the plastic cutting boards? Yeah. Who gives a shit. Cutting fat is a joke. Try slicing 8 type of vegetables and herbs in one setting. Doing this on a bamboo cutting board will speed up your chopping. Don't believe me? Try it.
4. Omelette Pan
Ok, first off. Omelettes. If your husband or wife doesn't like an omelette on sunday morning, I suggest you turn in your "member of the human race card". With the perfect size for a 2.5/3 egg omelette plus nicely sloped edges, you can make an omelette in this with simple flicks of the wrist. No spatula needed. Oh and by the way, almost every freaking recipe I do calls for a smallish pan that you can saute something in. Get one.
3. Aluminum Foil
Hah. HA HA! I hear you laughing. Lucidz, this costs 2 bucks at the local Shop'n'puke, who cares about it? Pretty much every damn meat you cook that wasn't ground into 1/8 inch gutlets benefits from "resting/tenting". Foil is your friend. Your meals will get more bang for their buck out of foil than anything else in your arsenal.
2. Cast Iron Skillet
Its not just for rednecks hunting squirrel any more. Cast Iron skillets when preheated in an oven to 500 degrees, then cranked up on the stove on high heat offer a more realistic steak house experience than ... well shit, the steak houses. Follow one of my steak recipes (or alton browns, the copycat) and you'll see what I mean. By the way, you can also cook salmon, chicken, scallops, etc etc etc etc etc in one. (And burgers) Its 15 bucks at walmart, pretreated. You have no excuse not to have one.
1. Chef's Knife
To hell with everthing else. Give me a global G2 8" chef's knife and I'll wilt bark, saute clovers and eat some kind of small woodland creature medium rare, and it'll taste great. The single most important item in your arsenal is your knife. It is your defense, and your offense. Do NOT skimp on this. I have several knife sets. But only one knife is my global g2 chef's knife. It is like a light saber through every substance I know. At around a hundred bucks, its definitely worth the cost for what you get.
However, I would like to make note of a few utensils I feel are absoutely of paramount importance in the kitchen.
I would also like to note that at this time, I am under no duress of sponsorship, so the opinions included herein are honest.
*Whew*
Here are what I would consider the top most important utensils of a kitchen.
There are 8. 8 shall be the number, and the number is 8. 7 shall not be hinted at, lest ye be counting to the number 8 and the number 9 is right out. (If you get this joke, I pity you)
8. Sauce pan
Innocuous enough, but at only a diameter of about 4 inches and 4 inches deep it doesn't seem like it could make much difference right? Wrong. Cooking sauces, creams, etc in this pan will make your life so much easier. Turn it on low, taste every so often, don't worry about the expanded area of an actual pan overheating the mixture and burning or over reducing.
7. Small Wooden bowls
This sounds esoteric doesn't it? But seriously. How many sauces start out with butter, garlic and shallots. That three way orgasm is the key to heaven in an untold number of sauces. Being able to prep this before hand is unbelievably helpful. The more small wooden bowls ( 1.5 inch diameter to 3/4 inch depth ) you have, the better.
6. Potato Ricer
Its cheap. It makes potatoes better. You have no excuse. Why wait. Buy one.
5. Bamboo Cutting board
You know the old Cut chicken on one side, cut beef on the other adage regarding the plastic cutting boards? Yeah. Who gives a shit. Cutting fat is a joke. Try slicing 8 type of vegetables and herbs in one setting. Doing this on a bamboo cutting board will speed up your chopping. Don't believe me? Try it.
4. Omelette Pan
Ok, first off. Omelettes. If your husband or wife doesn't like an omelette on sunday morning, I suggest you turn in your "member of the human race card". With the perfect size for a 2.5/3 egg omelette plus nicely sloped edges, you can make an omelette in this with simple flicks of the wrist. No spatula needed. Oh and by the way, almost every freaking recipe I do calls for a smallish pan that you can saute something in. Get one.
3. Aluminum Foil
Hah. HA HA! I hear you laughing. Lucidz, this costs 2 bucks at the local Shop'n'puke, who cares about it? Pretty much every damn meat you cook that wasn't ground into 1/8 inch gutlets benefits from "resting/tenting". Foil is your friend. Your meals will get more bang for their buck out of foil than anything else in your arsenal.
2. Cast Iron Skillet
Its not just for rednecks hunting squirrel any more. Cast Iron skillets when preheated in an oven to 500 degrees, then cranked up on the stove on high heat offer a more realistic steak house experience than ... well shit, the steak houses. Follow one of my steak recipes (or alton browns, the copycat) and you'll see what I mean. By the way, you can also cook salmon, chicken, scallops, etc etc etc etc etc in one. (And burgers) Its 15 bucks at walmart, pretreated. You have no excuse not to have one.
1. Chef's Knife
To hell with everthing else. Give me a global G2 8" chef's knife and I'll wilt bark, saute clovers and eat some kind of small woodland creature medium rare, and it'll taste great. The single most important item in your arsenal is your knife. It is your defense, and your offense. Do NOT skimp on this. I have several knife sets. But only one knife is my global g2 chef's knife. It is like a light saber through every substance I know. At around a hundred bucks, its definitely worth the cost for what you get.
Mashed Potatoes (But Good)
Essentially, mashed potatoes are the poor, saddled donkey of the food world. You can easily use a donkey (or ass, if you prefer) to haul shit around for you, and of course they're imminently useful for what they are. However, the poor ass (or donkey) simply isn't as exotic as the horse, or as powerful the ox. Similarly That is the fate of the mashed potato. Its no polenta, its no roasted fingerling and its damn sure no risotto.
Now, as one of my favorite webcomics might say, mashed potatos could be considered a low dish of dudes. However they have obviously never been to Wish Restaurant in South Beach, Miami. The only 4 star, 4 diamond restaurant in South Beach, the chef there did something that made me reconsider what I thought about the poor mashed potato. To refer to these tiny dollops of mouthsex as "mashed potatos" would be an insult to the Chef and his artistry. This was approximately 3 ounces of creamy, rich, decadent lottery winnings on your tongue.
The portion size was tiny, so i only used the very tip of my fork to eat it slowly. I've never used potato as a palate cleanser (since, by itself, the potato ranks itself somewhere between water and sandpaper in terms of blandness), but that's what I found myself doing here.
Since that fateful meal shared with my beautiful new wife on my honeymoon I've been on a tear trying to recreate the magic.
I've taken to making "Potatoes Three Ways", meaning I'll boil three potatoes at the same time, and then separate them into three different bowls and experiment. I'll then plate them and serve them in the middle of all the plates and let everyone try them and see what the verdict is.
This is my conclusion.
This recipe is specifically for red potatos, but can be adapted to any kind, simply prepare them the same way.
Tools of the trade:
whisk
food mill / potato ricer
sauce pan
pot for potatoes
small 6" or 8" pan (I prefer omelette pan)
Colander
wooden spoon
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1 Shallot Chopped
4 tbsp butter
3 medium red Potatoes or 1 Yukon potato
White pepper
Regular Salt
Step 1. Peel, and chop potatoes into roughly 1/2 inch chunks, place into cool water.
Step 2. Crank water up to boiling temperature.
Step 3. Once water is boiling, reduce temperature.
Silly Question: How low do I reduce the temperature?
Answer: How long do you want them to cook for?
Silly Question: How the hell should I know?
Answer: The lower the temperature, the longer they cook for and the more salt that absorbs into the potatoes.
Silly Question: How much salt should absorb?
Answer: *Slap*
In summary, as I mentioned above, potatos have very little inherent flavor of their own. Cooking them in salted water will help bring out additional flavor. This recipe calls for combining a lot of subtle and sweet and sour flavors, so any level of saltiness should be ok. It also depends on what you're cooking. Are you cooking steaks? Steaks cook in 10 minutes tops. You will likely want your potatoes cooking pretty fast. If you're braising lamb, you're in for 3 hours anyway, so cook as low as you want.
Ok, back to the recipe.
Step 4. Once your potatoes are nearly done, begin preparing our other sauces. See step 5 and 6 for the individual preparations.
Note: Steps 5 and 6 are not sequential, you should do them at the same time.
Silly Question: How do I know when they are done?
Answer: A toothpick or a knife, when pressed into the potato should remove very easily without dragging the potato out of the water with it.
Step 5: Cream sauce. This one is easy. Take a sauce pan (Or whatever you have, I don't care) and over low heat, melt butter into heavy cream. I usually make too much of this. This adds flavor of course, but it also adds consistency. For 2 red potatoes (or 1 yukon potato) I would likely use 2-3 tbsp of butter with 1/4 cup of heavy cream. The cream, when ready, should all be one yellowish white color. You may see some fats from the butter floating around but this is fine. I generally add white pepper into this mixture and whisk it in once the sauce is ready. Leave this alone.
Step 6: Shallots. While your cream sauce is becoming nice and creamy, we prepare the shallots. This one couldn't be easier. Put a tbsp or 2 of butter in a small pan ( I prefer an omelette pan, so I have room to move the shallots around). Once melted to the point that there ar eno large chunks, drop in your shallots. Cook on LOW heat, until they are transluscent but still soft. This is extremely important. If your heat is too high whatsoever, the shallots will become hard or, god forbid, crispy. (This ruins the dish by the way, pal.)
Step 7: Dry out your potatoes. By now, your potatoes should be practically falling apart. Poor your potatoes into your colander and let them drain. Put them back into the pot from whence they came. Let them sit there a minute. The pot is still hot, and it will help some of the water evaporate from the potatoes. (We want them creamy, not soggy damnit.)
Step 8: Put the potatoes BACK in the colander. (Left foot in, left foot out, then you... nevermind) Carefully load your potatoes into the ricer and squeeze them back into the pot. Once all of your potatoes are in the pot, add a bit of the cream we made in step 5. Whisk this until you get the desired consistency. Taste the potatoes as you go to make sure you're getting the consistency you want.
Step 9: The glorious finale. Take the pan with the shallots and your wooden spoon and scoop the shallots into the potato mixture. Do not poor, as the butter and grease from the shallots would ruin the consistency of our now beautiful whipped potatoes. Fold the shallots in, and whisk until the shallots are scattered equally throughout the potatoes.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Potatoes 3 Ways
LUCIDZTAG-Recipe
Creamed Swiss Chard
Bored already? view the recipe without my clever commentary.
Do you ever feel like you've eaten the same shit over and over again? Like an angry 12 year old complaining about the same meal, I whine internally that I consistently employ the same starches, the same greens, and the same proteins in my meal.
"Not asparagus AGAIN hubby!" I can imagine my wife thinking.
And seriously, how many fucking ways CAN you cook snow peas?
As part of this, I shall make it my mission to find easy, green, veggie side dishes to add to any meal that tweak a different part of your palate. Why easy? Because who wants to have 3 complex-ass dishes going. And if you've spent 70 dollars on USDA prime beef, you are not gonna want to freak out over complex sides and ruin that meat. Dig?
That said, victim number 1: Swiss Chard...
A large, leafy plant, permeated by thick red stalks, its most similar to spinach.
This plant has a great flavor and can be cooked a variety of ways but I love me some creamed Spinach, so lets cream this too. Screw it, I do what I want.
This plant has a great flavor and can be cooked a variety of ways but I love me some creamed Spinach, so lets cream this too. Screw it, I do what I want.
Ingredients:
Swiss Chard (Duh)
1 Small clove of garlic
Swiss Chard (Duh)
1 Small clove of garlic
1-2 tbsp of olive oil.
A dash of dried crushed red pepper
1 tbsp butter
Salt
Pepper
Heavy Cream
Step 1: Rinse the Chard thoroughly. After this, I chop off the stalk at the beginnings of the leaves. After this, I chop the Chard up into around 1" strips. Like I said, I am going for a creamed spinach replacement.
Step 2: Slice up some garlic.
Step 3: In a 6-8" pan, saute some butter and olive oil over medium low heat. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic. Give it some time for the garlic to sweat.
Step 4: Toss in the chard, lower the heat, cover the pan and occasionally shake to keep the chard
from geting too hot in one place.
Step 5: After the chard has wilted, pour in about 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Don't over do it, yuo don't want it swimming in the cream, just enough to give it that extra flavor. Feel free to add more butter at this point. (I do)
Step 6: Allow the cream to reduce a bit and allow for the extra butter to mix in with the consistency. Add a bit of white pepper and salt to taste!
Enjoy!
LUCIDZTAG-Recipes
Proscuitto Wrapped Asparagus with Roasted Red Peppers
Hate verbose assholes? Jump straight to the annotated recipe
Ok, I confess again that's bullshit. I dvr exactly 3 shows. They are all cooking related. What are they, you ask? I'm glad you did. Top chef, Top Chef Masters, Food Networks Next Top Star. Why not chopped? Boring. Why not Iron chef? Three reasons.
Reason One for Fuck Iron Chef: Its rigged. The Iron chef always wins when I can tell they clearly have the lesser dish
Reason Two for Iron Chef Blows: God damnit Mark Dacascos. This guy was an awesome star of incredible b-movies. He's an actual martial artist for chrissakes. Once called, "The original five fingers of death", his entire shtick is relegated to making chopping motions in front of douchey chefs.
Reason Three for It Used To Be Japanese Now ist Dumerican: Bobby Flay. This dude makes me want to flay myself Priory of Scion style. Seriously. Bobby, if you read this. You're a douche. I can say that because I never want to be a professional chef.
Ok, back on track. ( I have to ramble in each of these)
After an episode of Top Chef, I decided I wanted to try my hand at an Amuse Bouche.
I'll summarize that wiki... A tiny package, with a lot of flavor, meant to eat in one bite. After reading some food magazines, I got some inspiration and came up with an idea...
Proscuitto wrapped around roasted red pepper meat and asparagus.
Without further ado, here's the recipe.
(This recipe will make 4 bites)
Ingredients:
4 stalks of Asparagus
Sliced Proscuitto (Depending on thickness, this could be anywhere from 4 slices to 8 if its very thin)
1/4 of a Red pepper
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper or Lemon Pepper ( I used lemon pepper)
1/2 tbsp butter
Step 1: Set your oven on broil. Slice just one flat section of red pepper off of the side. You want this piece to be as flat as can be. If you need to, make two slices.
Step 2: On a pan, put some aluminum foil, drizzle a bit of olive oil on the pan. Place your red pepper flat in the center of the pan. Place on the top rack of your oven, and let them cook until they look burnt as shit. If you're like me and you leave the oven door open while you broil, you'll get an incredible sweet flavor as they roast. (Crazy that something spicy actually has a sweet flavor huh?)
When done, they should look like this:
Now, if you don't want to let yours cook to THAT extent, its perfectly fine, but you see the charred skin?
You definitely need that in places.
Step 3: With the pepper now cooked, remove the pan from the oven. Pull the edges of the tin foil up around the pepper forming a loose tent. Set aside and let cool for about 5 minutes. The pepper is going to continue to cook in the foil, and by letting it rest, you'll be able to peel the skin off easier.
Step 4: Skin the peppers. All you do is grab the skin and peel. Imagine that time when you were 8 years old and fell asleep outside in florida and you spent the next three weeks peeling off dead skin.
Step 5: Chop the "meat" of the red pepper up into very small chunks (Think diced tomatoes) and set aside.
Step 6: In a 6-8" pan, heat up some about 1/8th inch oil. Add the 1/2 tbsp butter. Once the oil is shimmering and the butter melted, drop the 4 asparagus stalks into the oil. Cook very quickly. Once they become very green but still have plenty of crispness, remove. (We need this crispness for the texture of the dish)
Step 7: Drain most of the oil from the pan. Don't wipe it, or worry if its not all gone. We want some of it there.
Step 8: Here's the tricky part, especially depending on the thickness of your proscuitto. Take the proscuitto, lay it flat, and place a stalk of asparagus smack in the middle. Surround the asparagus with a reasonable amount of red peppers.
Silly Question: Whats reasonable?
Answer: If you have very thin proscuitto its not going to be able to hold all that red pepper mixture in there and will explode like a water balloon. So if your proscuitto is thicker it can hold more, or you can double up the slices of proscuito.
Answer: If you have very thin proscuitto its not going to be able to hold all that red pepper mixture in there and will explode like a water balloon. So if your proscuitto is thicker it can hold more, or you can double up the slices of proscuito.
Step 9: Wrap the proscuitto up as well as you can, and gently place in the pan which previously contained the Asparagus. Try to leave it alone as much as possible, and be ready to remove it when the proscuitto begins to sweat.
Step 10: Top with either pepper or lemon pepper, remove from the pan and serve immediately.
If you have extra asparagus (thats cooked) or extra red pepper, feel free to garnish on the plate as I did below.
Enjoy!
Note: I mentioned that this would make a nice amuse-bouche, but because i'm a complete glutton, i made the entire stalk. If you wanted bite size, you could chop the asparagus in quarters and use a piece of stalk and a piece of the head of the asparagus in the amuse-bouche.
LUCIDZTAG-Recipes
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